Rare 1950s Steiff Sweet Smaller Size 5xJointed Papa Lion Loewen-Papa Wild Cat ID

This fabulous cat is smaller of two sizes of the “Papa Lion” made by Steiff during the 1950s. In the 20 years I have been helping Steiff animals get adopted, this is only the fourth small Papa Lion I have offered. This beautiful, sweet guy was made for very few years, and not at all after 1959. He was made in two series—the first between 1951 and 1958 and the other in 1959. Either article number that might have been printed on his flag had a “14” in it, which signified his catalogued size in centimeters. For the first series, that was 5314, and for the second series, add a comma and two zeroes.

Height is difficult to pinpoint on jointed animals, since their pose determines their height to a large degree. When Papa is posed as close to standing erect as his slightly-different leg lengths and hip heights will allow, he measures about 13 cm tall or about 5 3/8 inches.

You will notice that I have posed Papa “walking” in some of my images; doing that is probably the easiest way to ensure that he does not fall forward. Although Papa’s joints are probably a little looser than they were 60-plus years ago, his joint health contributes little, if anything, to the attention you might have to pay to find his sweet spot(s)—yes there are many—for standing. In fact, he can stand stably even on three legs, with one or the other of his rear legs lifted off the ground.

I would say that Papa is in very good condition. Three minor detractions keep me from saying “excellent,” although I am sure that many others would not be so conservative. And, of course, I am rating him absolutely, not “for his age.”

I believe Papa once had more whiskers on each side of his nose; he has four on each side now—a little wild—and I think there were originally six. My other reasons for conservatism are two areas of thinning in Papa’s mohair: the slight wear that Papa has in his white mohair beard and the thinning in the long hair of his gorgeous auburn mane.

There are no absolutely BALD areas on his beard, but the mohair coverage is a little thinner and the strands of mohair are a little shorter on the left and right sides (but not the middle) of that part of his beard that is just below the line of black floss that defines his mouth. See my closeup inset in my eighth composite image.

While there may actually be a touch of thinning in Papa’s mane, I think a lot of what that you see is a function two things: the way the mohair “flows” on Papa’s head, back, and chest, and the fact that each strand of mohair starts out blond and is finished with the auburn tip. Part of what you are seeing is the beginning of each strand as it leaves his gold body.

In any case, these three minor issues account for my conservative evaluation. You, on the other hand, DECEMBER think I am being unduly harsh on Papa. 😉

There is one other thing I want to mention, but it does not enter into my assessment of Papa’s condition, since I believe it is a design flaw. Papa’s tail looks very nice as it sticks out behind him. There is a slight area (detectable by feel) of stuffing settlement about 1/3 inch down on his tail from the place where it joins his body. I would not want to risk opening up his tail to give him a new infusion of excelsior, since any improvement that might make (I would say NONE ) in his presentation would not be worth the risk in opening up an old fellow like him and jabbing him with a needle.

AND, even if I were to temporarily make his tail tactilely as well as visually free of problems, it would return to its hypothetical pre-surgical state if you decide that you want to display Papa in a seated position! That’s what I mean when I say he has a design defect. Look again at my eighth composite image. I did not want to push him into a fully horizontal seated position, where his haunches would make full contact with the table. You can already see, from the position I put him in, that his tail is under stress. 🙁 Papa’s anatomy would have to be designed differently to avoid putting his tail at risk.

I guess it is not great psychology to end with this negative observation, but go back and look at Papa’s pictures again. 🙂 And please write if you have a question.

Papa may be “King of the Jungle,” but his sweet face is about as non-ferocious as you can get. He is extremely rare and would make a fabulous addition to your collection, or, if you can part with him once he arrives, Papa would delight the Steiff or lion collector in your life if you give him as a gift.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT PAPA OR ANY OF MY OTHER STEIFF ITEMS, PLEASE BE SURE TO SEE THE ARTICLE I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT STEIFF ID FRAUD—INCLUDING COUNTERFEIT CHEST TAGS—(AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR COLLECTORS). YOU WILL FIND THE LINK ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF MY SHOP HOME PAGE UNDER “FAVORITE LINKS.” IF YOU HAVE NOT LOOKED AT IT RECENTLY, I UPDATED AND EXPANDED IT IN MARCH, 2023.